essay
State and society at Teotihuacan, Mexico
Annual review of anthropology • 26 • Published In 1997 • Pages: 129-161
By: Cowgill, George L..
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Between 100 BCE [before the Christian era] and 200 CE [after the Christian era], the city of Teotihuacan grew rapidly, most of the Basin of Mexico population was relocated in the city, immense civic-religious structures were built, and symbolic and material evidence shows the early importance of war. Rulers were probably able and powerful. Subsequently, the city did not grow, and government may have become more collective, with significant constraints on rulers' powers. A state religion centered on war and fertility deities presumably served elite interest, but civic consciousness may also have been encouraged. A female goddess was important but probably not as pervasive as has been suggested. Political control probably did not extend beyond central Mexico, except perhaps for some outposts, and the scale and significance of commerce are unclear. Teotihuacan's prestige, however, spread widely in Mesoamerica, manifested especially in symbols of sacred war, used for their own ends by local elites (p. 129). This document presents a concise summary of the various cultural aspects noted above.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Cities
- Territorial hierarchy
- Population
- Historical reconstruction
- Visual arts
- Housing
- Form and rules of government
- Spirits and gods
- traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Central Mexico Classic
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2010
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Middle America and the Caribbean
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Central Mexico
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Archaeologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- John Beierle; 2009
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1988-1993
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 2100-1300 BP (100 BC-AD 700)
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Teotihuacán, Valley of Mexico
- NotesAdditional notes
- George L. Cowgill
- ncludes bibliographical references (p. 304-317)
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 720821360
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Mexico--Antiquities